Device for imparting unidirectional movement



May 29, 1928. 1,671,481

' L. A. MULLEN ET AL DEVICE FOR IMPARTING UNIDIRECTIONAL MOVEMENT Filed Dec. 16, 1926 v .s Sheets-Sheet 1 I HIV/IA @NNIIIRNi nil- -llllllllllllllh ATTORNEY."

May 29, 1928.

L. A. MULLEN ET AL DEVICE FOR IMPARTING UNIDIRECTIONAL MOVEMENT '6 Sheets-Sheet Filed Dec. 16, 1926 INVENTORS: v .MzZZen ephJw/rewck;

ATTbRNEY.

60 A $3 BY WITNES SE5 v ,nia

LEO A. 'MULLEN, or ooLLINennLn, rENNsYLvANm, AND Josnrtraacxnvrcn; or,

- MERGHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY. I

DEVICE FOR IMPARTING UNIDIRECTIONAL lllIOVEli/IENT. I

Application filed December 16, 1926. Serial No..155,295.

Our invention relates to motioncounters and more particularly to a device adapted to count the number of revolutions, reciprocareadily applied to machinesof various types.

The principal object of our invent-ion is to provide a device that will count the number of movements, Whether made in one or in opposite directions, and will indicate when a predetermined number of such movements have been made by either giving certain signals or by automatically stopping the machine. I

Another object'of our invention is to pro vide a device that may be readily applied to a wide range of machines without alterations to the device or to the machine and which is simple and inexpensive in construction.

These objects, and other advantageous ends'which will be described hereinafter, we attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1, is a front elevation of a pre.

ferred embodiment of our invention,

Figure 2, a central longitudinal sectional vieylv of same, certain parts being shown in ful Figure 3, a se tion on line 33 on Figure 2, c l V Figure 4, a section on line 44: on F igure 1, V l 9 Figure 5, a ure 1,

Figure 6, a diagram showing a certain apsectionon line -5 511 Figplication'of our invention, drawn to a .re-

duced scale.

Referring'now more in detail to the draw ing, the device as a whole is represented by the numeral 10; it has a'casing 11 with ends 11 and 11 and a. removable'front plate 12 which is'provided with a sight opening 13, preferably covered by a glass 14.. A. bracket 15, secured to the inner slde of front plate 12, extends downwardly and has a scale ,16

-ment on theseshafts.

secured to its outer side so that the scale is visible through sight opening 13.

A shaft'17,having coarse threads-thereon, is journaled in the ends of casing. 11 and held against longitudinal movement by a collar 18 and the squared end of the threaded portion abutting either side of a partition 19 disposed in one end of casing 11. A. gauge 20 is threaded onto-shaft 17 and is slidable upon a rod 21 extending through casing end 11 and threaded into partition 19. A

pointer 22 is secured togauge 2O andextends downwardly, forwardly and then upwardly into the space between scale 16 and glass 1 1. Shaft 17 is rotated by means of a knurled knob 17 formed on its outerendand, as it is held against longitudinal movement, r0;

tation thereof will cause gauge 20 to move v V lengthwise on shaft 17 and thus bring pointer 22 over any desired graduation on scale 16.

'Directly below Shaft 17, a Shaft 23 18,503

extends through partition 19. Itmay be rotated by means of a knurledknob 24 jand is held against-longitudinal movement by tatably mounted in the ends of casing ll and the'hub of a ratchet wheel 25 fixed to the shaft between partition 19 and casing end 11*. A rod 26 is mounted in. casing end 11- and in partition 19 immediately below shaft 23 and is adapted to hold an indicator 27,11.-

which is threaded onto shaft 23 and sli'dabl mounted on rod 26, against rotation.

pointer 28 is secured to indicator27 and extends forwardlyand then upwardly between scale 16 and glass'14 and has itsjforw'ardly extended portion of such a length that it will pass pointer 22, as plainly shown in Figure 4.

v A slide 29 is mounted on theinner side of casing end 11 and is provided with a slot 3O through which the endsof shafts 17 and i 23 I extend ;'i the length of slot 30 being slightly longer. than thedistance from, the

top of shaft 17 to the bottom of shaft 23 so" that slide 29 may have a slight vertical move:

from slide 29 and has a pawl 32 rockably mounted on its outer end and held in engage- An arm 31 extends vided with a foot 34: which extendsthrough a suitable slot in casing end 11?.

ratchet wheel 25, it is evident that by raising contact piece '35, spring 39 will move slide 29' upwardly "and cause pawl 32 to rotate ratchet wheel one notch. As it would be dltiicult toadjust'the device to a machine so that the contacting part of the machine would move slide 29 therequireddistance to rotateratchet wheel 25 one notch, slot 36 is made'long-enough to permit a range of adjustment of the contacting part of the ma? chine.- Whencontact piece is moved up wardly, slide 29 is carried with it by spring 39-to-the limit 'allowedby slot 30, after which contact piece 35 is allowed to continue upwardly by the resiliency ofspring 39.

Gauge 20 is made of insulating material, such as bakelite, and has an electrical contact 40 secured to one lower corner and a spring contact 41 secured to itsother lower corner-:and-extending across the bottom of l the gauge, so that its end is adjacent to but spaced from contact 40with itscentral porjtionbowed downwardly, as shown in Fig 35 ur'e2. Indicator 27 isalso of insulating material and has arounded projection 42 formed on its upper side. Electric wires 43 .co'nnect contacts 40 and etlwith binding posts la-and 45 mounted on the rear of cats ing l1. Y I p p vvashing machines, such as are used in laundriesyare usually designed to make a few revolutions in one direction and then a few in theopposite direction with the-result that ordinary revolution counters would be o'fi no practical use while,"loy employing our inventionrit does not matter in which direc-- tion rotation takes place or whether the movement to "be counted 1s reciprocating or oscillating.

"Assuming that our invention has been ape pliedito' abattery of belt driven barrel washing" machines, as shown in Figure 6, the de vice would be used in the following manner. Shaft 17 would be rotated to'bring pointer 22 opposite the graduation on the scale representing the total number of revolutions I required to perform the washing operation.

Indicator 27 would be moved to the right until pointer 28 came opposite the zero mark onthe scale. It is intended that a quick rcturnshall be used on indicator 27 but, as

i there .are' several well-known methods of accomplishing this result, none have been illustrated or described. -'A wire l would be may be adapted.

secured to binding post- 4a and connected .to a battery, indicated on the drawing by the character B, and a wire 45* connected between binding post 45 and an annunciator, represented on the drawing by the character A. The battery and annunciator would be connected by means of a wire 46, as shown in Figure (3. Devices on additional I ma chines would be connected similarly to the one described above,that is; wire 44 would connect binding post 44 to the battery and wireecfi would connect binding post 45' to its corresponding terminal on annunciator A, as shown diagrammaticallyin Figure 6.

Any number ofwashing machines can be equipped with our devices and the devices electrically connected to one or more-annunciators. At the time of putting a new batch ot'clothes in each washer,the gauge on the device attached thereto would be set for the ing machine, which comes in contact with curved portion 38 on contact piece 35 and raises same, thereby raising slide 29, actuat-' ing ratchet wheel '25 and moving indicator 27 along shaft 23 until pointer 28 overlaps pointer 22, at which timeprojection 42 will engage spring contact 41, force same against contact 40 and closet-he circuit; This will cause the bell on the annunciator to ring and the indicating hand on the annunciator to pointto'the number of the machinewhich has finisheolits operation. I v

As previously stated, washers of this type are designedto first rotate in one direction and then in the other but, by referring to Figure 5, itwill be noted that the direction of rotation is immaterial as button 47 will raise contact piece 35 regardless of the direction from which it approaches, due to the shape andllocation of curved portion '38 In case'the machine, to which our device is attached, is driven by a motor, a solenoid operated switch may be connected into the signal circuit so that, when this circuit is closed as above described,the' annunciator will show which machine has finished its operation and the switch will'stop the motor. As the installation and operation of electromagnet switches are well-known, this feature will not be illustrated or described as it forms no part 'of'this' invention but merely forms another usecto' which our invention It will be noted that the left hand end of shaft 23 is slightly smaller than the threaded portion, so that, in caseindicator 27 runs past gauge 20 and theattendantfails to shut down the machine, theindicator'cannot run against partition 19 andirijure' the device.

In order that shaft 23 maybe turned in the direction opposite to that in which it is rotated by ratchet wheel 25, we provide a plunger 48 which extends through front plate 12 and is adapted to engage the lower end of pawl 32 and hold same out of engage ment with ratchet wheel 25. Plunger 48 is normally held out of contact with pawl 32 by means of a coil spring 49 disposed between a bracket 50 and a shoulder formed on the plunger.

While We have illustrated and described one embodiment of our invention, it will be readily understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and hence we do not wish to limit ourselves to the construction set forth but consider that we are at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly .come within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A device for imparting unidirectional movement including a support having a slot, a shaft journaled in the support, a ratchet wheel fixed on the shaft, a slide on the support, a pawl hinged on the slide and engaging the ratchet wheel, a foot on the slide extending through the slot, a second slidable member mounted on the support and con nected to the foot, and a contact member on the slidable member adapted to be engaged and actuated by an external moving body.

2. A device for imparting unidirectional movement, including a support, a shaft journaled in the support, a ratchet wheel fixed on the shaft, a slide-on the support, a pawl hinged on the slide and engaging the ratchet wheel, a second slide on the support, a spring connecting the two slides, and a contact on the second slide adapted .to be abutted by an external moving body.

3. A device for imparting unidirectional rotation to a shaft journalled in a support including a ratchet wheel fixed on the shaft, a slide on the support, stops on the support for limiting the movement of the slide, a pawl hinged on the slide and engaging the ratchet wheel, a second slide on the support, a spring connecting the two slides, and a contact on the second slide adapted to be abutted by an external moving body.

4. A device for imparting unidirectional movement, including a support, a shaft j ournaled in the support; a ratchet wheel fixed upon the shaft; a slide on the support; stops upon the support; a pawl hinged on the slide adapted to engage the ratchet wheel, the

slide having a slot embracing the stops and adapted to limit the movement of the slide; a second slide, on the support; a spring connecting the two slides; a contact on the second slide, and a moving body mounted upon the support and adapted to engage the contact.

' In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

LEO A. MULLEN; JOSEPH JAGKEVIOH. 

